Russia

Peter I, Tsar of Russia, ruled from 1682
to 1725, and worked to make
it part of modern Europe. His successful wars with Charles XII of Sweden,
Turkey, and Persia considerably increased
Russia's territory, demonstrated Russia's military might, and enabled to
Peter to assume the title of Emperor in 1721.

After his death in 1725, Russian succession
was unsettled, and the throne was repeatedly seized in a series
of coups that lasted decades. Only Catherine II (Catherine the
Great), who reigned from 1762 to 1796, was able to secure
a measure of stability. Catherine continued two of Peter's
central programs: Westernization of Russian society, and
increased expansion of the empire. The annexation of most of
eastern Poland in the 1770s and 1790s worked toward both ends,
increasing Russia's territory and giving it another foothold in
Europe. Catherine promoted a number of eighteenth-century
cultural institutions, including the Academy of Sciences (founded
in 1725) and the
University of Moscow (1755), which helped to
make Russia -- especially Moscow and St.
Petersburg -- into a center of European culture.

After the brief reign of Paul I (during which time Russia colonized Alaska), Catherine's grandson, Alexander I, assumed the throne in 1801, and sought to consolidate
many of the developments of his predecessors by reforming the legal codes.
But the invasion by Napoleon in 1812, although it ended in
victory for the Russians, was costly, and left Russia considerably
weakened.